ELC Support for New Instructors

Advice for Instructors New to NAU or New to Teaching Online

Have you ever noticed that when you've been working for a while, there are bunch of things you wish someone had told you when you were just getting started? That's what this document is supposed to do for instructors new to NAU and instructors new to teaching online.

Your Identity: Once the new hire paperwork is complete, every NAU employee is assigned a unique NAU ID, which is usually your initials followed by a number. For example, John Q. Public's ID might be jqp19 if he was the 19th person hired at NAU with those initials. You get to set your own password, and will be required to change it frequently. Nobody who works for NAU should ask you for your password. You will use this username and password to log into almost all NAU systems. Faculty and staff e-mail addresses will usually be firstname.lastname@nau.edu, unless that's already taken. Student email addresses are in the form "nauid@nau.edu"

Human Resources: Our HR office is the place to contact or visit for all questions about your contract, medical benefits, retirement, etc. For "security sensitive" positions (almost anyone who deals with private data) you will need to be fingerprinted shortly after being hired. You'll probably want to schedule a new hire orientation.

Required Training: You will need to complete the mandatory Preventing Workplace Harrassment training online. If you are an instructor or if you deal with student records, you will also need to familiarize yourself with FERPA guidelines and complete the FERPA training. Employees are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest in the annual CERT survey. If you want to drive a university vehicle or even use your own vehicle for university business, you must complete the defensive driving training.

Campus Security and Safety: We use the NAU Alert system to send SMS text messages to all subscribers in the case of a campus emergency. Participation is voluntary. Campus Police are located in building 98A and can be reached by dialing 911 or 523-3000 in case of emergency. For non-emergencies, call 523-3611.

Voicemail: You can check your office voicemail from anywhere by dialing (928) 523-6225. You can also check your Communité voicemail online. You will need to enter your 5 digit telephone extention (3-XXXX) and voicemail password for access. You even have the option to give up your phone entirely and use the university's Enterprise Voice system for calls, conferencing, and more. This Unified Messaging system uses Microsoft Lync, is available for both Windows and Macintosh users, and may require the additional purchase of a headset mic and webcam depending on your intended use.

Academic Integrity: You will find NAU's policies on Student Academic Integrity, including standard disciplinary procedures, in the Student Handbook. You might be interested in a module on Academic Integrity created by the e-Learning Center. If you use Blackboard and assign written work, you should consider taking training from ELC on the Safe Assign tool.

LOUIE: The Lumberjacks Online University Information Environment (LOUIE for short) is the place where you can find paycheck information, track how much sick leave and vacation time you have accumulated, etc. LOUIE runs on a software product called PeopleSoft, and you may sometimes hear it referred to in that way. LOUIE is the also system where students enroll in their classes, and where instructors post their official grades.

Tech Support : ITS is NAU's central IT division. There are also local tech support staff who report to the College or Department. Typically, ITS handles things that are done campus wide, like e-mail, while the local IT person will be the one who knows the systems in your building, like your work computer. ITS has two tech support help desks: the Solution Center for faculty and the Student Technology Center for students, and a Software Downloads page where you can obtain NAU site-licensed software.

Extended Campuses: If you're working someplace other than on NAU's Flagstaff Mountain Campus, you're probably in touch with our Extended Campuses office, which is also commonly known as Distance Learning. NAU has 36 campuses distributed around the state of Arizona.

e-Learning: The e-Learning Center provides support for faculty in the effective use of many technology tools for teaching and learning, including Blackboard Learn, NAU's online Learning Management System. We can assist whether you will teach in-person or online, and whether you are located on the NAU mountain campus or one of our statewide sites. ELC offers faculty support through our help desk, a large collection of online tutorials and answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs), both online and in-person training, and one-on-one consultation with technical and instructional specialists. At a minimum, you should take the Essential Computer Skills and Intro to Bb Learn training (either in person or online, as available) before you begin to teach online for the first time. If possible, you should also negotiate that, the first time you teach online, you do so with pre-built course content. If you can do both of those things, you'll likely want to continue to work for NAU after your first semester. When you are building your first online course from scratch, there are lots of technical and pedagogical things to think about. Contact ELC if you need help.

Cline Library: In addition to having the biggest computer labs on campus, Cline Library has a great staff who offer a range of services for faculty including e-reserves, media services, and course support.

Disability Resources: DR promotes the full inclusion of persons with disabilities in the Northern Arizona University community. DR can give you good advice and assistance in making your online course more accessible. If a student in your class discloses to you that they have a disability and are requesting an accomodation, contact DR immediately for guidance.

Faculty Development: The Faculty Development Program offers opportunities for professional development in teaching to enrich success in student learning, plays a key role in strengthening a learning-centered campus culture leading to student success, advances new teaching and learning initiatives that impact student success, fosters collegial dialogue within and among faculty and campus partners about effective teaching, and serves as a convenor to showcase faculty expertise in teaching.